Carbon Damage Tax

Here’s a novel idea that popped into my brain in association with the catastrophes called Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Yeah, I know that this won’t pass Congress anytime soon, so this proposal is just food for fodder and debate. Why not put a damage tax on all oil and coal companies operating in the United States? There are plenty of carbon tax proposals out there, but this one should make people think.

The tax would require energy companies to help pay a percentage of the costs for all weather related, large catastrophes that can be tied through a peer review process to climate change. Off hand, these would include such recent events as Katrina, Sandy, the unnamed Louisiana flood from last year, and this years hurricanes. I don’t have details yet, which I’ll leave for legislators and policy makers, but I’ll add to this post if anyone else has more ideas.

Energy companies could choose as an option to pay for and own solar and wind farms, which they would reap profits from, prodding a faster switch to green energy. The tax could be passed down to the consumer, which would raise the price of gasoline some to help wean society off oil. We are all in minute ways responsible for the disasters that crushed Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. Time to pay up.